Alabama Baseball Notebook: May 5, 2003Sophomore left-hander Brent Carter (Americus, Ga.) won his fourth straight game with a 6-2 win over Tennessee in Knoxville on May 2. During his current four-game winning streak, Carter has compiled a 4-0 with a 1.89 ERA with two CGs since April 13th.

*Sophomore left-hander Brent Carter won his fourth straight game, leading Alabama to a 6-2 win over Tennessee in Knoxville.*Carter allowed only two runs and seven hits in eight strong innings and he added three walks and 11 strikeouts*The 11 strikeouts gives him back-to-back double figure strikeout games for the first time in his UA career. Carter recorded a career-high 14 strikeouts en route to being named Collegiate Baseball’s National Pitcher of the Week last week against then-No. 15 Arkansas (April 25) in Tuscaloosa.*Over his last two games (17 IP), Carter has recorded 25 strikeouts for an average of 13.25 strikeouts per nine innings.*In his last two starts, Carter has recorded 51 outs (17 IP) and 25 of those out have come via the strikeout, accounting for 49 percent of his outs against Arkansas and Tennessee.*In the win at Tennessee, Carter retired eight straight batters during the second, third, fourth and fifth innings, which included four consecutive strikeouts in the fourth and fifth frames.*The lefty tossed 5 1/3 no-hit innings against the Vols, spanning the second through seventh inning, before allowing a pair of two outs runs in the frame as UT cut the lead to 6-2.*Carter’s numbers are even more impressive considering his UA offense recorded only three hits in the game and none after the second inning. UA did score six runs in the fifth inning without a hit. UT walked five and made three errors in the inning.*For the season, Carter has compiled a 8-4 record and 3.40 ERA in 15 appearances (12 starts). Carter has worked a team-high 90 innings and allowed 34 earned runs and 82 hits. Carter also has the Tide’s best strikeout to walk ratio, recording 80 strikeouts and only 14 walks. He leads the team and SEC with four CGs.*During his current four-game winning streak, Carter has worked 33 1/3 innings and allowed seven earned runs and 29 hits and added six walks and 34 strikeouts for the Tide. He is 4-0 with a 1.89 ERA with two CGs since April 13th.

ALABAMA BASEBALL NOTEBOOK

*Sophomore left-hander Brent Carter (Americus, Ga.) won his fourth straight game with a 6-2 win over Tennessee in Knoxville on May 2. During his current four-game winning streak, Carter has compiled a 4-0 with a 1.89 ERA with two CGs since April 13th. In those four games, he has worked 33 1/3 innings and allowed seven earned runs and 29 hits and added six walks and 34 strikeouts for the Tide.

*Sophomore second baseman Allen Rice (Pelham, Ala.) has set the school’s single-season record with 20 hit by pitches this season. Rice was hit twice at Tennessee by left-hander Ben Riley to tie and break the record previously held by Jerry Shelton (19 HBPs) in 1992. Rice tied the record with his 19th HBP in the third inning and then broke the standard in the fifth inning. Rice leads the SEC this season with 20 HBPs in 48 games.

*Senior center fielder Travis Garner was hit by a pitch in the third inning on May 3rd at Tennessee helping the Crimson Tide match the single-season school record of 70 HBPs. The record-tying HBP came in the third inning against UT right-hander Brandon Crowe.

*Garner was the Crimson Tide’s most productive hitter last week, hitting .385 (5-for-13) with one triple and five runs scored. The Sturgis, Miss., native was the only UA player to hit better than .250 in the series at Tennessee, going 4-for-9 (.444) with five runs, three walks and one triple.

*In addition, Garner is riding a 12-game hitting streak for Alabama, his second-longest of the season. During the current streak (April 16-present), the senior is batting .429 (21-for-49) with 17 runs scored and four RBI from the leadoff spot in the batting order. Garner also has the SEC’s second-longest hitting streak of the 2003 season as he hit safely in 18 straight games (.361, 26-for-72, 18 R, 5 2B, 8 RBI) from Feb. 28 through April 2, which included all 16 games in the month of March.

*For the season, Garner is Alabama’s leading hitter with a .352 (64-for-182) average in 46 games, with 48 runs scored, 11 doubles, two triples, one home run and 20 RBI. He also has 19 walks and 14 (18 SBA) stolen bases. He has hit safely in 42 of 46 games for the Tide this season, including 36 of his last 38 games since Feb. 28th.

*Garner is also Alabama’s best hitter in SEC play with a .347 (33-for-95) average in 24 league games, with 30 runs, seven doubles, one home run and nine RBI. He is the team’s leading hitter in league play by 46 points over second-place hitter Allen Rice (.301, 4 HR, 19 RBI).

*After a four-game winning streak (April 23-27), the Crimson Tide lost three of four games last week, including its first loss to Samford since 1992 on April 30th. The Bulldogs beat the Crimson Tide 8-2 last Wednesday in Tuscaloosa to snap UA’s 15-game series winning streak.

*After winning the first game of the series at Tennessee (W 6-2, L 10-3, L 7-4), Alabama dropped the final two games of the series for its sixth straight SEC road series loss dating back to last season. Alabama has not won an SEC road series this year, losing all four at No. 21 Florida, No. 6 Auburn, Ole Miss and Tennessee.

*The Crimson Tide offense struggled last week and that led to the team’s 1-3 record in four games. For the week, UA hit only .188 (24-for-128) and averaged just 3.8 runs and 6.0 hits per game. Garner (.385, 5-for-13) was the only Crimson Tide player to hit better than .270 for the week. In the three-game series at Tennessee, Alabama also hit just .188 (18-for-96) and averaged just 4.3 runs and 6.0 hits per game in losing the series.

*The Tide hit just .125 (3-for-24) with runners in scoring position against the Vols and went just 1-for-8 (.125) in the series with the bases loaded.

*Senior left fielder Grant Redding tied the Alabama single-game record with two outfield assists in the 10-3 loss at Tennessee on May 3. G.W. Keller (1997 vs. Southern Cal) and Gabe Scott (2002 at LSU) are the most recent UA outfielders with two assists in one game. Actually, Keller had two assists in the same inning against the Trojans, including throwing out the go-ahead run at home to end the top of the ninth inning in the championship game of the 1997 South Regional.

*The Crimson Tide opens its final home stand of the 2003 season this Tuesday night (May 6) against Birmingham Southern at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The home stand also includes a three-game series with South Carolina (May 9-11) and Jacksonville State (May 13).

*The Alabama-South Carolina series is a rematch of last year’s SEC Tournament Championship game won by the Crimson Tide (6-2) at the Hoover Met. South Carolina won the 2002 SEC Championship, while Alabama was the SEC Western Division champion and overall runner-up last year. The Crimson Tide and Gamecocks are locked in a four-way tie for fourth place in the overall SEC standings (13-11 record) with two weekends remaining on the docket.

*Alabama owns a 9-3 series advantage with South Carolina in the 12 Tuscaloosa meetings. The Crimson Tide has also won all three regular season series (1995, 1999 and 2001) with the Gamecocks at the Joe, including a three-game sweep in 2001.

*The Saturday, May 10 Alabama-South Carolina game will be televised by FOX Sports Net South, the networks lone appearance at the Joe this season. In addition, Brooke Smith, a recent runner-up in the popular ABC series “The Bachelor” will be on hand to sign autographs and throw out the first pitch on Saturday. Smith, a former member of the Bama Belles, is the 2002 graduate of the Capstone.